The present invention relates to games, and more particularly pertains to a new type of card game especially adapted for casino gambling, particularly in a live cardroom format.
As a leisure time activity, poker and other card games have fascinated the public for years. A deck of cards, a playing surface and a few participants are all that is needed to provide a recreational few hours away from the stress and strain of daily life. Almost everyone knows how to play some variation of a rummy-type card game in which players attempt to acquire 3 or more card suited runs (such as 4 club, 5 club, 6 club) and sets of 3 or 4 of a kind (such as 4 club, 4 diamond, 4 spade) in order to make a play or so-called "spread".
Many places, both within and without the United States, have legalized gaming and poker is one of the games of chance that is offered in both casinos and cardrooms. In a conventional cardroom poker game, the house provides a dealer, the playing cards, the table and chairs but does not play a hand. The house collects a nominal percentage of each player's bet (the "rake") which compensates the house for providing the facilities to the players. Alternatively, the house may charge each player a set amount per hand or for a specified length of time, say one-half hour. Each player is competing not against the house, but against all the other players with the highest hand winning the total of all the wagers made on that hand.
A conventional poker game, known as "Seven Card Stud" is played in a live cardroom format in which up to seven players each initially place ante wagers and then receive two cards face down and one card face up in an initial three card deal. An initial betting round then takes place, with the player having the highest card typically betting first, with the other players following in rotation. Four additional cards are then dealt in a one at a time manner, with each card followed by a betting round, until remaining players have completed hands consisting of three face down cards and four face up cards. The best five cards of each remaining player hand are then compared using conventional poker rank as the criteria for comparison to determine a winning player(s). The winning player(s) are awarded the accumulated wagers or pot. Variants of Seven Card Stud Poker include "High-Low Split" in which the pot is split between the players having the highest and lowest poker rank hands and "Low-Ball" in which the player having the lowest poker rank hand wins the pot.